Miracle liver transplant girl wants to thank donor's family - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Miracle liver transplant girl wants to thank donor's family - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Miracle liver transplant girl wants to thank donor's family
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:20pm AEDT

Map: Gerroa 2534
A Gerroa teenager whose natural adaptation to a donated organ is being hailed as a medical first says she wants to thank the family of her donor.

Demi-Lee Brennan, 15, from the New South Wales south coast, had a liver transplant when she was nine, after almost dying from severe liver failure.

However, her body radically adapted to the new organ, changing her DNA and performing its own bone marrow transplant.

"People have explained it to me, but it's kind of still hard to understand," she said.

Unlike other patients she does not have to use immuno-suppressant drugs for the rest of her life and says she owes her life to the unknown family of the donor.

"When I turn 18 I can have the decision of meeting with the family or not," she said.

Doctors at Sydney's Westmead Hospital say Ms Brennan's case is unique in the world.